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Best Tenn. stations of all time

B

Bat Fastard

There's a great thread on another board asking a question similar to:

"What are the best Tennessee radio stations of all time".

I vote (some of which are obvious):

WHBQ/Memphis (best when Dees was there)
WMPS/Memphis (only when Dees was there)
WZXR/Memphis (in the years shortly after launch as "Rock 103")
WENK/Union City (pound for pound, still one of the best in a town its size)
WCMT/Martin (Paul gets the award for most improved over the years)
WRJZ/Knoxville (when it was "The New 62" with C.P. & Walker, etc)
WIMZ/Knoxville (when it had balls)
WKDF/Nashville (when it was still rock)
WSIX/Nashville (in the late 80's and early 90's)

I know there are some legendary performers like WSM/Nashville, WIVK/Knoxville and WXBQ/Tri-Cities. While (some) of these guys have put some monster numbers on the board and have enjoyed long-standing success, they just don't seem to sparkle like some others.

Remember, great radio exists outside the major metros, too.

Your thoughts?
 
Depending on the way you look at it, and if you want to add any credence to those that had major impact on the most number people as well as associated industry(even if misguided or delusional); you must include WSM and WLAC at or near the top of your list.
 
WZDQ-Q102 (HITRADIO Q-102 Jackson, TN) Early 80's, moved from being WIRJ-FM into the Jackson Market, and blew away everyone except the ONLY Urban FM in the market.
It was pumped, processed, tight, and smooth...and in it's day pound for pound, dollar for dollar, and market for market one of the best stations ever in Tennessee.
And that INCLUDES WENK!
 
I was aware of Q102, but never really got to spend any time with them. I know they were highly regarded.

Jeez, Meep. Why go busting on WENK?

Frustrated ex-employee or genuine beef?
 
Neither. Didn't realize including them was busting on them. WENK is a tradition station and certainly a model for small markets.
Q-102 was better IMHO.
That's all. Not trying to bust on 'em.
(As per frustrated employee...no. I refused their offers)
 
From purely a personal standpoint, it would be hard to beat WKDF-FM in Nashville back in the mid 70's. A friend of mine and I would take our booze, pipe, and whatever "shake" we could round up and to drive up to some highground in a church cemetery in a little place called Hurricane Hill in Dyer county. Amazingly, on most nights,we could pick up a fairly listenable signal from there. As far as "heritage" stations are concerned, WDIA would be very high on the list.
 
HA! Littlebig...

We did the EXACT same thing...The best place was to drive to the top of Grove Hill, (where the Tower building was) at Grove Jr. High in Paris.

KDF was the Shiz!!!! (of course...When I was doing this as a junior or senior in high school...you were probably well out of college! HAHAHA!

Have parted with Coyote McCloud a few times after.
 
Meepster said:
WENK is a tradition station and certainly a model for small markets.
Click to expand...

A great small market station that continues to be consistent and local (though, I do wish TH would/could be even more local).

NSCC
 
firepoint525 said:
Hard for him to balance that Union City/Paris thing, isn't it? :-\
Click to expand...

I think it is, but I think he's doing what he can with what he has. It's a short-staffed radio station and you're covering a large area. I'd like to see more interaction with the community, but when you and the rest of the staff are wearing several different hats, it can be trying. Other than that, he has solid stations.

NSCC
 
Bat Fastard said:
WHBQ/Memphis (best when Dees was there)
Click to expand...
WHBQ has an interesting history, to say the least. They are generally credited with being the first to play Elvis Presley, probably around 1954 or 1955. Ironic, considering that about 35 years later, they made headlines specifically for NOT playing Elvis! Anyone remember that? And then there was that brief time frame in the late '80s when they played heavy metal music at night! (Well, at least from evenings onward.) I would have to say that that was very unusual for an AM station by the late '80s! I was not surprised that it didn't last very long.
WCMT/Martin (Paul gets the award for most improved over the years)
Click to expand...
What has Paul done with it? I can't listen, because to the best of my knowledge, they still aren't streaming.
 
firepoint525 said:
What has Paul done with it? I can't listen, because to the best of my knowledge, they still aren't streaming.
Click to expand...

Paul's strong point is being connected with the community. He is everywhere. He covers just about all the local high school sports, has a morning show that is very open to the audience (someone once compared it to a town hall type setting) and is visible at all community events (parades, etc).

His stations aren't as tight as WENK or programmed as well, but he has done a great job at in tune with the people of West TN (and beyond).

NSCC
 
NotSoClearChannel said:
firepoint525 said:
What has Paul done with it? I can't listen, because to the best of my knowledge, they still aren't streaming.
Click to expand...
Paul's strong point is being connected with the community. He is everywhere. He covers just about all the local high school sports, has a morning show that is very open to the audience (someone once compared it to a town hall type setting) and is visible at all community events (parades, etc).
His stations aren't as tight as WENK or programmed as well, but he has done a great job at in tune with the people of West TN (and beyond).
NSCC
Click to expand...
So not much has changed since I lived there. It seems to me that now that he has an FM translator for WCMT-AM, he could hire a sports director, someone to cover high school sports for the outlying communities over WCMT-FM, while concentrating on Martin Westview over WCMT-AM, now that AM 1410 now has an FM translator.
 
firepoint525 said:
It seems to me that now that he has an FM translator for WCMT-AM, he could hire a sports director, someone to cover high school sports for the outlying communities over WCMT-FM, while concentrating on Martin Westview over WCMT-AM, now that AM 1410 now has an FM translator.
Click to expand...

I don't know whether he has a sports director per se, but he carries just about all the local high school games under the Thunderbolt Umbrella. He has Union City, Obion County, Westview and a few more.

NSCC
 
I can give you a side story to the WHBQ/Elvis situation. They may have actually been the second radio station to play Elvis, but the first to play his song all the way through. Fred Cook told me that back in that era, WREC, much to Hoyt Wooten's chagrin, was running a "Pop" show in the afternoons. Marion Keisker, the famed Sun Records receptionist, and later to be DJ on WHER, brought the first Elvis record to Fred, and he gave it a spin on the air. About 30 seconds in, Fred dumped out of it, handed it back to her, and informed her it was the "worst piece of" er, um, recorded material that he had "ever heard". SO, later that evening, Dewey Phillips became the first person to play an Elvis record - all the way through - on the air, on WHBQ.

Strictly by chance, as vacation fill-in for Bob Landree, I happened to have been on the air at WHBQ on the other end of Elvis' career, when he died. At the time we were giving away tickets to his scheduled concert at Mid-South Coliseum. I removed the liner card promoting the give away, and still have it.
 
HA! Littlebig...

"We did the EXACT same thing...The best place was to drive to the top of Grove Hill, (where the Tower building was) at Grove Jr. High in Paris.

KDF was the Shiz!!!! (of course...When I was doing this as a junior or senior in high school...you were probably well out of college! HAHAHA!

Have parted with Coyote McCloud a few times after."

I'm not THAT old Meep....actually I was in my 2'nd or 3'rd year of college.
 
Okay,I am not from Tennessee..but considering it's longevity (like 85 years), and it's impact on radio and the south and the fact that it is the only station in Tenn. that is actually known outside the state.....I think that the winner here is pretty obvious. WSM!!!!
 
Hey Gang... We had this on our Indiana Board.. Tell us (as a former and soon to be, again, Tennessee radio guy) who think were the BEST 'local-smaller market-stations of now and then' in the Volunteer State... "Skipper T." former WAY-FM Nashville and Oldies 96.3 M'boro-N'ville guy...
 
A couple of good small market stations would be WCRK in Morristown. #1 local station forever and the same morning man for 50 years.
WBNT in Oneida. They are still "live" all the time. Even on the weekends.
 
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